Ronald Thwaites | Politically exposed

A foreigner visiting my church who was indisposed, asked if I would receive for her a remittance of US$500 being sent by a relative in America via Western Union. So last week I attended the branch at Parade where I was attended to by a courteous and patient lady.

But then, trouble! Multiple calls to the compliance department. Beyond regular identification, every personal detail was required including my long-dead mother’s identification and proof that I am not a bogus minister of religion.

Next a disclosure of what the ultimate beneficiary wanted the money for: then a 45 minutes wait while God was consulted to verify my bona fides and the purity of my relationship with the person I was trying to help.

REAL PROBLEM

Then it came out. “Sir, you are a politically exposed person and as an international organisation we are required to do all this”!

Now we know. Leprosy in Jamaica has not been eradicated as we had thought. Politicians are lepers – tainted for life. And not just the cretin who sought to represent the people but guess what – his or her immediate family too, wife, husband and children.

I retired from political representation five years ago but the sin of being politically active is never remitted. The tell-tale skin blight, the cross-examination when doing someone a favour at Western Union; the added scrutiny when your children engage a financial transaction; the special attention paid to the “politically exposed” members of an Opposition party by revenue and licensing authorities, are akin to a sentence of indefinite detention. It never ends.

DESERVED?

Has cronyism, tribalism, corruption and self-inflicted disrespect caused what should be one of, if not the highest calling of the land to earn such disfavour? What do foreign agencies know about crime, money laundering and other malefactions wrought by us politicians which could justify this prejudice?

Should this third-degree scrutiny apply to everyone contaminated by baptism in the sewer of political exposure even when there is no charge against them in law, professionally or by the Integrity Commission? Is collective dishonour our fate?

Can it then be any surprise that so many talented, thoughtful and ambitious young people scorn political representation? Who will representation be left up to if political engagement carries the Mark of the Beast? What will be the future of this democracy?

THAT JOB DESCRIPTION

I can hear voices saying that the political class has brought this contempt upon ourselves. A dangerous half-truth that. But one reinforced all the more by the half-heartedness of the job description scripted by parliamentarians for themselves last week and defended frantically by members of this administration.

The ability to feel ashamed when you have done something wrong is an essential ingredient of integrity. In this peaw-peaw effort at redeeming representational dignity after all the laziness and extortionate salaries, as in the blatantly compromised appointment to the FID, the craft of politics is further disrespected. Chucking badness under the guise of exercising elected power is the opposite of the oath we swore.

And young people watch, learn and mimic.

CANDIDATES CONSIDER

Every candidate in the upcoming election ought to consider the system they are engaging and the risks they are taking to their families and their reputations. Your independence and critical faculties cannot be exercised freely in a context of collective responsibility.

Serving in the executive offers important opportunities to put forward policy but the likelihood of seeing those policies implemented is very slim – even if you have a safe seat and your party retains state power in successive outings. Nonetheless, I contend that the ability to encourage, influence and participate at the apex of decision-making about people’s lives make the effort worthwhile.

BACKBENCH LIFE

I found life as a back-bencher sometimes entertaining but mostly boring and without sufficient purpose commensurate to the sacrifices involved. The agenda of the House of Representatives is impervious to the pleadings of a member without executive authority.

Speeches criticising legislation are mostly ignored even if you are making sense. Over 20 years or so, I introduced dozens of motions which I thought were significant for the people of Central Kingston and for Jamaica as a whole. There was no time given to debate the majority of them. Derision was the frequent response. Most members don’t even bother engage.

Committee participation offered more promise. But not really. Attendance is infrequent, public participation limited, scheduling of meetings always a problem and reports mostly ignored. So what’s the point?

OUTSIDE THE CHAMBER

In a culture of entitlement, the reality of crushing poverty and the absence of even basic social welfare facilities, servicing constituents becomes the main preoccupation of a conscientious member of parliament or councillor. Although resources are limited, tribal demands oppressive and scarce ministerial kisses go by favour, this part of the job can be the most difficult but rewarding of all.

PERSISTENCE

The adrenalin rush of competing for the people’s favour, your good intentions and peer pressure make it too difficult to turn back now. But at least you should know what is ahead for you. I commend your persistence. It helps immeasurably if you have a supportive spouse and family.

EQUALLY CULPABLE

So Haitians, all of them, are to be denied entry into the United States. “We don’t want them” is Caesar’s edict. So far CARICOM and Haiti’s nearest neighbours are cravenly scared into silence. But then, Jamaica has gone this same way of cruelty by implicitly and explicitly saying “We don’t want them” to every boatload of hurting humanity who desecrate our shores. We brand them with the mark of the beast without even looking into their eyes. Their leprosy derives from their colour and their history.

To me, how we treat people in need and in trouble ought to be the biggest election issue. It won’t be because we are so absorbed protecting our own visas.

But how are our political class, and we who allow them to do as they please, going to face inevitable judgment by the God who came among us not with the trappings of an MP or Most Honourable but as a refugee from Herod’s oppression, born from a frightened black woman’s belly and who was discarded and killed by the power-wielders in the Gordon House of his day?

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at The UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com